Biography
Six-foot-four, green-eyed, mustachioed and classically proportioned, Tom Selleck certainly looks the part of Movie Star but he's had a very spotty career in that medium. Moreover, his genial persona clashes pleasingly with his dazzling good looks. TV would appear to be his most hospitable arena. Selleck looks like the macho man par excellence but his voice has a tendency to squeak and his playful manner often suggests a little boy living in an adult hunk's body. He appeared in eight busted pilots, usually playing cops, soldiers and other men of action, before hitting paydirt with the often light-hearted detective series "Magnum, P.I." (CBS, 1980-88). The match of actor and character proved magical; formidable ratings and international stardom followed. 5After achieving a reasonable level of success as a model in print, billboards and TV ads, Selleck signed a seven-year contract with 20th Century-Fox in 1967. He turned up in a daytime soap ("The Young and the Restless"), played a recurring role in ABC's primetime showbiz melodrama, "Bracken's World" (circa 1970), and appeared in a slew of forgettable roles in undistinguished TV movies, famous actors and features. His film career started as the "Stud" ogled by Mae West in the notorious "Myra Breckenridge" (1970). His 1970s films were not star-making material: small roles in "The Seven Minutes" (1971), "Terminal Island" (1973) and "Coma" (1978), and a starring role in the low-budget horror flick "Daughters of Satan" (1972). 5Selleck had been hired to star in George Lucas and Steven Spielberg's "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981) but CBS would not release him from his "Magnum" commitments. His loss was Harrison Ford's gain. With the notable exceptions of "Three Men and a Baby" (1988), a saccharine but highly profitable remake of Coline Serreau's 1985 French comedy, and its 1990 sequel, most of Selleck's big-screen outings have been commercial and critical disappointments. Some reviewers point to the Australian oater "Quigley Down Under" (1990) as his best feature work to date. Here he plays an American rifleman hired by a villainous Alan Rickman ostensibly to shoot vermin at a Western Australian grazing station but discovers that he's expected to kill tribal Aborigines. The Western has proved a congenial genre for Selleck's laid-back persona; he fared well in a number of TV-movies, famous actors and miniseries set in the Old West. 5Through the 1980s and '90s, Selleck appeared in countless TV specials: awards shows, tributes (Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor), Battles of Network Stars, patriotic specials, and children's shows (on morality, drugs, etc.). He also appears to have accepted the role of Charlton Heston's heir apparent as Hollywood's official voice of conservatism (though he claims to be a registered Independent) in a number of public affairs programs and political events. 5Having executive produced the last two seasons of "Magnum", Selleck served in that function for eight "B.L. Stryker" (ABC, 1989-90) TV films starring Burt Reynolds. He also produced a number of other TV-movies, including "Revealing Evidence" (NBC, 1990) and "Silverfox" (ABC, 1991). Selleck subsequently hosted the excellent astronomy series, "The Practical Guide to the Universe" (The Learning Channel, 1993). He made a highly touted return to series TV as a recurring character on the hit sitcom "Friends" in 1996.